The summoning
by YoukaiNemisis
Summary: What would happen if Ni Jianyi cast a spell to summon the greatest alchemist that ever existed?  Why, he'd get Severus Snape showing up.  Really.  Rated T for drinkin'.


Severus Snape lowered his quill and allowed himself a sigh that slithered around the privacy of the Headmaster's study. _How did Dumbledore not go mad from all this paperwork? _he wondered. Then he snorted and pushed away from the desk, rising and smoothing his black robes, crumpled from his hours spent seated. Dumbledore was mad, but Snape doubted that it was the paperwork that sent him crazy. He turned to look at the painting hanging on the wall behind the massive desk and chair. The blue eyes of Dumbledore's portrait were closed as the painted figure snored lightly.

Snape shook his head and turned away. He'd send a house elf for tea and something to eat, maybe that would give him the energy to complete the work that stretched before him. Most of it was complaints from teachers – teachers who were not Death Eaters – regarding the treatment of the students. The rest were poorly-composed complaints about Neville Longbottom and Ginny Weasley, written in the hard to decipher writing of one of the Carrows. _One of these days that boy will get himself into more trouble than I can safely bail him out of,_ Snape thought to himself, but he couldn't help a small smile of admiration that curved his thin lips. Longbottom was walking a very, very fine line, and he seemed to do it without realising just how fine it was and how far he had to fall. He was running out of creative excuses to deny the Carrows the right to permanently damage Longbottom, but for the sake of a promise made to a dead man, he'd keep doing it.

The Headmaster reached out one long-fingered hand, reaching for the bell that would summon a house elf. They'd just grazed the twisted silk cord when the room began to spin. Snape staggered backwards, groping in his robes for his wand, the words to protection spells ready to fall from his lips as lightening crackled and thunder boomed in the confines of the study. The walls seemed to melt, and everything slowly dissolved into blackness. An eternity later something hard smacked the soles of his shoes and he was catapulted forwards to land in an undignified heap on a cold, stone floor. His fingers closed at last over the hilt of his wand, and he breathed the word, "P_rotego_." A thin, powerful shield formed around Snape's prone body. Only when it was in place and secure did he pick himself up and look around.

Snape was in a massive, open hall, ringed with stone columns. A crude circle, ringed by even cruder runes was scrawled on the floor, and his heart skipped a beat when he realised he was inside it. They looked nothing like the Ancient Runes he'd studied, yet somehow he could read them. It was a spell to summon and contain. _What?_ he thought. _Who'd summon me? The Dark Lord only has to ask, so it wouldn't be him. Someone from the Order, looking for vengeance?_ His grip on his wand tightened. _Let them try._ He swept the hall with his dark eyes, his free hand rising to push back the stringy hair that had flopped over his face. It took a second glance to pick out the man standing on the outside of the circle, as he was half hidden in the shadows created by the massive columns.

"Who are you and why have you brought me here?" Snape demanded, lifting his wand. "_Lumos_!" His wand tip ignited, throwing the other man into sharp relief.

"Ouch," the man replied, raising his hand to shield his eyes. "Would you mind lowering that?"

"Yes, I would," Snape sneered, taking a few strides forward. He slammed into the chalk ring and rebounded, staggering back a step. He lifted his own hand and pressed it against the barrier, ignoring the bite of magic against his palm as he tested its strength. It was impressively strong, and was a type of magic he was completely unfamiliar with. "Let me go."

"After all the effort it took to get you here? Without even an explanation? Where's the sense in that?" The man stepped forward, and Snape got a good look at him. He wore a crumpled white lab coat over a shirt and slacks, and was that..? Yes, he was holding a stuffed rabbit tucked under one arm. Eyes as dark as his own studied him as the stranger ran a hand through his hair. "Who are you?" Snape did not reply, running through spells in his mind. Yet he was reluctant to use one unless he knew it would shatter the barrier – he didn't want to give too much away to his captor. "How about I go first?" the stranger suggested. He executed a slight bow. "I am known as Doctor Ni Jianyi. You can call me Doctor Ni. And I need your help."

"What makes you think I'll help you?" Snape retorted. "Bringing me here against my will isn't a mark in your favour." The other man gave a surprising chuckle.

"No, I suppose it wouldn't be. How about if I tell you that you can't get back unless I say so?" He moved closer until there was barely a few feet between them. "Tell me your name." _What could it hurt?_ Snape thought.

"Professor Severus Snape." He lowered his wand with a muttered "_Nox,_" and the light at the end of his wand extinguished.

"See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Doctor Ni asked. "Now, Professor, why would a spell summoning the greatest alchemist in existence bring you here?" Snape couldn't help a twitch and a slight smirk. _Greatest alchemist in existence?_

"It's your spell. How should I know?"

"Ah, but you do." The other man turned away, walking back to his pillar and retrieving an object. When he came back, Snape saw he was carrying a scroll, one with green borders that was covered in intricate writing. Again, it was a language he'd never seen before, but he could read it somehow. The doctor saw the surprise he failed to hide and smiled sarcastically. "I added a few tweaks to the summoning, so that whoever showed up could read, write and speak my language." His pale hands spread out the first two feet of the scroll, and despite himself Snape felt a trickle of interest. "Recognise it?" the other asked. Snape shook his head.

"Never seen anything like it." It was a fascinating combination of spells and science, formulae and incantations. His fingers twitched, but Snape forced his curiosity down and stepped back, folding his arms across his black-robed chest. "What do you want?" he demanded. Doctor Ni smiled wryly and rolled the scroll back up.

"It galls me to admit it, but I've run into... some problems. I can't make sense of some of the formulae. That's where you come in."

"Again, why should I help _you_?" Snape snarled. "You're keeping me prisoner." The doctor waved his hand dismissively.

"I can send you back to the exact same time and place you left, with the knowledge you gain here completely intact. You would be an honoured guest. You'd-" What ever else he was going to say was cut off by a female voice.

"Doctor Ni." Snape turned his head and his jaw dropped. A woman had appeared out of the darkness, the strangest looking woman he'd ever seen. She was dressed in a lilac coloured robe that fell to expose both shoulders and a great deal of breast, sashed at the waist and falling to her slippered feet. Her hair was arranged to look as if she had a pair of horns growing from the bun at the back of her head, with two bangs left to brush the skin of her shoulders. And she had long, pointed ears that would put a house elf to shame, matched by the claws on her fingers and the sharp looking teeth in her mouth. Snape watched as Ni hid the scroll, then turned and sank to one knee.

"Lady Gyokumen," he said, his tone oily and subservient as he bowed his head. The woman completely ignored him and stalked closer, her tongue sliding out to wet her lips. Snape forced down a wave of nausea at the predatory look in her eyes and met her stare with a disdainful one of his own.

"Who is our guest?" she purred. She extended her hand and snapped her fingers. "Ni. Introduce us." Ni rose to his feet.

"Gyokumen Koshu, favoured of the demon king, may I present Professor Severus Snape? He's... an expert in certain fields I am curious about." Only Snape heard the hesitation and the warning, he was sure of it.

"Oh." the woman replied. She turned, dismissing Snape and turning to Ni. "Come with me." Doctor Ni bowed.

"I am always at your service, my lady." They walked away from the chalk circle until Snape couldn't hear their voices. His mind worked fast. Snape knew that the woman wouldn't have seen it – maybe it took someone like him to see. Doctor Ni _despised_ Lady Gyokumen, even though every speck of his body language and voice said he was happy to work for her. And he found that interesting, very interesting indeed. He watched as Ni kissed the hand that was presented to him, and then the lady was gone. The doctor crossed the floor back to him, and stood watching Snape.

"Alright," Snape said finally, breaking the silence. "I'll agree to help you on two conditions."

"Name them," Ni responded quickly.

"You'll return me as you said you could when I've done what I can. And you'll tell me how you ended up working for someone you'd rather see dead." The doctor twitched in shock, and Snape smiled. _Bullseye._ Ni frowned for a little while, then gave a shrug.

"Deal." The doctor leaned down and wiped away part of the chalk circle with one hand. The barrier wavered briefly then vanished. "I will admit to being a little curious about what changed your mind. And how you knew." Ni pressed the back of one hand to his forehead and spoke in a melodramatic voice. "I was convinced my acting was perfect!" Snape shook his head, amused, and stepped forwards, stowing his wand back in his robes.

"Let's just say... I know what it's like to work for someone like that."

**0o0o0o0o0**

Three months flew past. Snape's first order of business had been to prove Ni's claim that he could return Snape to the exact moment he left. Once he was satisfied that the doctor's words were true, he threw himself into studying the Seitan scripture, as the scroll was known. It was complicated enough and fascinating enough that he felt he could quite happily spend the rest of his life reading its text and struggling to comprehend all its meanings.

Snape also felt more relaxed than he had in a very long time. It hadn't taken him long to realise that he was in a completely different world than the one he'd left. Here there were no witches, wizards or Muggles; no Death Eaters; and no Dark Lord. Once he'd got used to seeing pointed ears on everyone but Ni and his assistant Doctor Hwang, Snape had settled in surprisingly quickly. He never let his guard down completely; the servants were terrified enough of Lady Gyokumen that any strange behaviours he exhibited would be reported to her. And Ni Jianyi... The man was the strangest person he'd ever met, and that was including both the Dark Lord and Dumbledore.

In front of others, Ni was almost the caricature of a sleazy, smarmy mad scientist. When it was just he and Snape, his quick mind and twisted sense of humour made Snape laugh aloud more than once. A few times, he found himself wistfully wondering what his life would have been like if he'd met someone like Ni when he was a student at Hogwarts. In spite of himself, he appreciated the man's company, and dared to think of him as a friend. Of course, that didn't change the fact that Snape could _feel_ the darkness inside the doctor; the rage and the anguish; the need to make someone else hurt to make the pain inside less. He _knew_ it was there, because Snape saw it in his own eyes, every time he looked in a mirror.

**0o0o0o0o0**

Snape watched intently as the liquid frothed in the glass. He made a note, and in the second his eyes were off the test tube it exploded, showering his person, his work and the bench in a stinking blue green mess. Luckily he'd thought to shield his notes in case of a spill, but he glared down at the white coat Ni had insisted he wear instead of his black robes. It was smoking, and Snape hurriedly shucked the coat before the substance could eat through to his skin. He indulged in a rare swear word as he tossed the fabric, now resembling a net curtain, onto the bench top and scowled. Where had he gone wrong? Every time he reached this point, something went awry. Snape knew he was missing something, and he hated that feeling.

"That's the third bench this week," a voice noted behind him, and he nearly jumped out of skin as he spun and came nose to nose with Ni. "But that's all right, they're easily replaced. You, however..." The doctor's voice trailed off, his eyes on Snape's chest, and Snape looked down to see spots of the liquid corroding his shirt. He swore again and hastily unbuttoned it, tossing it to the bench as well and grumbling to himself.

"There's something I'm missing," Snape said aloud in frustration. "There's something that I feel like I'm supposed to just _know_, something so common it was never committed to the scripture." He slapped his right palm against the table and muttered, "It's just so... So..."

"Frustrating? Annoying? Infuriating?" Ni suggested. He grinned in sympathy, letting Snape know he knew exactly how he felt. "Come on, enough for today. Lets go get a drink. And you can tell me where you got that _wonderful_ tattoo." Snape blinked, then looked down at his left forearm, where his Dark Mark stood out in vivid detail against his pale skin. Automatically his right hand shifted to cover it as Ni stripped off his own coat and held it out. "You should cover up." His grin became lecherous. "You don't want to distract the ladies." Snape snatched the lab coat and shrugged into it.

"That's not funny," he growled as he fell into step with the other man as they exited the lab. Ni's stride faltered for a moment.

"Who said it was supposed to be?" Ni asked, sounding genuinely curious. Now it was Snape's turn to stumble.

"What?"

"What?" They'd come to a halt, staring at each other in the middle of the corridor, less than a foot and an ocean of misunderstanding between them. "Never mind," Ni sighed finally. "Come on," he repeated, "I've got saki heating." Snape matched his stride once more, the comment dismissed. In the time he'd spent in Houtou Castle he'd developed a certain fondness for the rice wine.

The evening progressed in the same comfortable rhythm that had developed between Snape and Ni over the months. They ate good food, drank good wine, and exchanged stories of their lives. Yet when the time arrived that Ni would normally take his leave and let Snape get some sleep, Ni fumbled in the basket the food had arrived in and crowed with happiness. There was a sloshing sound, and he withdrew his hand, holding a bottle of amber liquid.

"Try this," Ni urged, unscrewing the cap and pouring a measure into a glass. Snape accepted the tumbler, sniffing the aroma. He sipped, then gasped as a line of liquid heat set his tongue on fire, slid down his throat and exploded into his belly. "Good, yes?" Ni grinned, tossing back a mouthful. Aside from the lingering burning sensation the whiskey left behind, it _was_ good. Snape finished his glass and held it out for a refill.

By the time the first bottle was discarded and the second was almost empty, the pair were slumped on the couch in Snape's suite. Snape had swapped Ni's lab coat for a loose shirt, and he had both feet – now bare – propped up on the small table in the centre of the room. Ni had hold of the bottle, and he made a grunting sound as he squirmed around and rested his back against the arm of the couch. Snape was surprised when Ni rested both of his own bare feet on Snape's thigh, but not as surprised as he was when Ni spoke.

"So who was she?"

"What?" Snape asked through the haze of alcohol. "She who?"

"The woman who broke your heart. At least, I'm assuming it's a she." Ni tipped the bottle and swallowed a mouthful directly from the neck. "You tell me your piteous story of love gone wrong and I'll tell you mine," he added. Snape reached out and grabbed the whiskey, taking a mouthful himself.

"Why not?" he mused aloud. "Her name was Lily Evans." He closed his eyes and saw her smile. "She was beautiful. Dark red hair, green eyes..." Snape sighed and drank another mouthful. "She was my very first friend. I suppose she was my only _real_ friend. She cared about me, but never... like that. She married a man she referred to as an 'arrogant toe-rag'." Ni snorted. "They had a child. Then she died. And it was my fault."

"How?" Ni asked, reaching out to take possession of the bottle again.

"I was young, and stupid, and arrogant, and I wanted power. I didn't see how what I told him could make him kill her. But I should have." Snape shook his head, knowing he was rambling.

"Him?"

"The Dark Lord. Voldemort." That name was much easier to say when he was drunk, and Snape tapped a finger against the Mark on his arm for emphasis.

"Oh." Ni tipped the bottle and swallowed the last of the whiskey.

"Your turn, now you've finished the booze."

"Why not?" Ni mimicked. "His name was Koumyou Sanzo. He started out as my teacher, then became my friend, and eventually my lover. He tried to save me." He gave a harsh bark of laughter. "Didn't work though." He tossed the empty bottle onto another chair, and sagged, his eyes closing. "I didn't know that the bitch had sent a team out to take the scripture from him. I only found out when they came back with it." Ni shook his head. "To this day I wonder if I could've saved him, if I could've... If I'd told him to run, him and his boy, would he have done it?"

"He had a son? Did he live?"

"Adopted," Ni replied. "Found the kid in a basket floating on a river, can you imagine that? And yeah, he survived."

"So did Lily's boy. Arrogant little snot. Problem is, he _is_ important. And he has her eyes."

"Mmm." Ni sagged lower. "The kid'll never know how much I loved his dad. He'll never get it, you know?"

"Yeah." Snape's reply was answered by a snore. He considered shifting Ni, but the room was rather blurry and it seemed far too much effort, so he tipped his head back and let himself fall asleep.

**0o0o0o0o0**

Once again dressed in his black robes, Snape stood at the centre of another chalk circle surrounded by runes.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay a little longer?" Ni asked.

"I'm sure. Things to do, places to be." Snape smiled, a genuine one laced with a warmth that no one living had ever seen. "Besides, I've done as much as I can here."

"All right." There was more that Ni wanted to say, Snape could tell, but he lifted his hand to forestall him.

"Thanks for having me," he said instead.

"You're welcome. Come visit any time." The pair of them shared a little smile, knowing that under the terms of the summoning spell Snape's return was impossible. Then Ni lifted a book and began to read the spell. Lightening flashed, and thunder roared, the walls blurred and melted. Darkness fell, and then Snape's feet were hitting the stone floor of the Headmaster's study at Hogwarts. He crashed to his knees, and wavered there for a moment before hauling himself to his feet.

"Severus?" the portrait of the previous Headmaster asked anxiously. "What was that just now?" Snape brushed off his robes and walked to his desk. Aside from a scorch mark on the floor, everything was exactly as he'd left it.

"It was nothing," he said, returning to his chair and picking up his quill, tapping the feather against his chin for a moment. "Dumbledore, how do I go about ordering something into the kitchens? Say, for instance, sake?"


End file.
